Table of Contents

The Difficulty of Writing at All; The "One-Book Author"; The Occasional Writer; The Uneven Writer; The Difficulties Not in Technical Equipment.

2. What Writers are Like

Cultivating a Writer's Temperament; False and Real Artists; The Two Sides of a Writer; "Dissociation" Not Always Psychopathic; Everyday Examples of Dual Personality; The Slough of Despond

3. The Advantages of Duplicity

The Process of Story Formation; The "Born Writer"; Unconscious and Conscious; The Two Persons of the Writer; The Transparent Barrier; Keep Your Own Counsel; Your "Best Friend and Severest Critic"; The Right Recreation; Friends and Books; The Arrogant Intellect; The Two Selves Not at War; The First Exercise

4. Interlude: On Taking Advice

Save Your Energy; Imagination Versus Will in Changing Habits; Displacing Old Habits; A Demonstration; The Right Frame of Mind

5. Harnessing the Unconscious

Wordless Daydreams; Toward Effortless Writing; Double Your "Output"

6. Writing on Schedule

Engaging to Write; A Debt of Honor; Extending the Exercise; Succeed, or Stop Writing

7. The First Survey

Reading Your Work Critically; The Pitfalls of Imitation; Discovering Your Strength; A Footnote for Teachers

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and gifts — here at Powells.com.